Donald Young to Defend Title In USTA Calabasas Challenger

Written by: Staff on 16th October 2010

Donald Young to Defend Title In USTA Calabasas Challenger

Donald Young (USA) |

Young 18-year-old American and U.S. Davis Cup player Ryan Harrison, who is in the midst of a breakout season, will join 2007 champion Robert Kendrick and defending champion Donald Young at the 10^th annual USTA Pro Tennis Championships of Calabasas at the Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center.

Harrison began 2010 by appearing in his first Grand Slam main draw, having won a USTA playoff to earn a wild card into the Australian Open. He also posted his best-ever tour result by reaching the quarterfinals in Newport, R.I., and qualified for the U.S. Open, upsetting No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic in the first round. Harrison then joined Sam Querrey, John Isner and Mardy Fish on the U.S. Davis Cup team for the World Group Playoff victory over Colombia in September.

Qualifying for the $50,000 event begins on Saturday with main draw action beginning on Monday.

To help celebrate 10 years of pro tennis in Calabasas, USTA Pro Circuit supervisor and U. S. Open Tournament Referee, Brian Early, will visit the tournament to present the Calabasas Tennis Center & Top Seed Tennis Academy with a special award commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the tournament.

The public is welcome to come out to watch the matches free of charge from qualifying through Friday’s day matches at which point tickets will be sold for as low as $10.

During the tournament there is a Pro-Am for sponsors, Community Tennis Association appreciation night, USTA League appreciation night, a Pro-Am drill, VIP sponsor party, and Junior Team Tennis Kid’s Day.

Also expected in the main draw are: 2007 Calabasas singles champion and 2006 doubles champion Kendrick, a regular competitor in Grand Slam events, who is currently fourth all-time on the USTA Pro Circuit with 11 career men’s singles titles and advanced to the final of the $50,000 Challenger in Sacramento two weeks ago; Kevin Kim, a nine-time USTA Pro Circuit singles champion, who finished in the Top 125 five of the last six years; Jesse Levine, who had his best showing at a Grand Slam last year at Wimbledon, defeating then-world No. 24 Marat Safin and advancing to the third round; Ryan Sweeting, who peaked at a career-high No. 111 in August after qualifying and advancing to the third round of the Olympus US Open Series event in Washington D.C., and competing in the US Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year; and last year’s Calabasas singles champion and 2007 singles runner-up Young, who broke into the Top 100 in 2007, reaching the third round of the US Open and advancing to the singles final of seven USTA Pro Circuit tournaments. He won his fifth career USTA Pro Circuit singles title in Carson, Calif., earlier this year and is once again approaching the Top 100.

Also competing in the main draw are: Jesse Witten, who made a major move up the world rankings at the 2009 US Open, winning three matches in qualifying and advancing to the third round before falling to Novak Djokovic in four sets; Alex Kuznetsov, who finished second on the 2009 USTA Pro Circuit prize money list and has reached seven USTA Pro Circuit singles finals in his career, claiming two titles; Lester Cook, who competed in the 2010 French Open qualifying and holds four USTA Pro Circuit singles titles and 10 doubles titles; and Michael Yani, who qualified for the main draw of the 2010 French Open and lost to Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 12-10, in a first round marathon that was played over two days and covered 4 hours and 56 minutes of playing time. The 71 games equaled the most in a singles match at Roland Garros since tie-breaks were instituted in 1973.

Among those competing in the main draw who are making a comeback through the USTA Pro Circuit include 2005 Sacramento doubles champions Bobby Reynolds, who has won two USTA Pro Circuit Challengers this year after reaching the third round of Wimbledon in 2008 and ascending to a career-best singles ranking of No. 63 in early 2009 before a wrist injury derailed his season; and former world No. 60 Amer Delic, who reached the third round of the 2009 Australian Open through qualifying but was halted by a knee injury that kept him out of competitive play from July 2009 to August 2010. He competed in US Open qualifying this year in his first tournament since the injury.

Receiving a main draw wild card is Steve Johnson, an All-American at the University of Southern California, who helped the squad win the 2009 NCAA team title, and who qualified for the Olympus US Open Series event in Los Angeles this summer (first ATP World Tour appearance).

Those expected in qualifying include: Blake Strode, the 2010 US Open National Playoffs champion, who last year chose to defer Harvard Law School to play professional tennis and won the Futures in Joplin, Mo., for his first pro title; Bradley Klahn, who won the 2010 NCAA Division I singles championship while playing for Stanford and stretched Sam Querrey to four sets in the first round of the 2010 US Open as a wild card; 6-foot-7 Alex Domijan, a two-time USTA Pro Circuit singles finalist, who plays for the University of Virginia and spent much of 2009 as the No. 1 player in the USTA Boys’ 18s national standings; and Devin Britton, who enrolled at the University of Mississippi in January 2009, and five months later became the youngest man ever to win the NCAA singles title (18 years, 2 months). Britton’s NCAA title earned him a main draw wild card into the 2009 US Open, where he pushed five-time defending champion Roger Federer in a 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 defeat. He also reached his first career USTA Pro Circuit final this year at the $10,000 Futures in Claremont, Calif., following the US Open.

Also expected in the qualifying include: 2002 singles runner-up and 2006 doubles champion Cecil Mamiit, a member and coach of the Philippines Davis Cup team, who reached the final of the 2010 US Open National Playoffs and won the NCAA singles title as a freshman at USC in 1996; Michael McClune, a former junior standout, who won the USTA Boys’ 18s singles crown to earn a wild card into the main draw of the 2007 US Open; and Nicholas Monroe, who advanced to the doubles final of the $50,000 Challenger in Sacramento two weeks ago and was a two-time All-American at the University of North Carolina (2003-04).

Many current and past ATP World Tour standouts have found success in Calabasas. 2007 doubles champion John Isner is currently the No. 3 American behind Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish, and is ranked No. 20. This year, Isner captured his first tour singles title in Aucklan, New Zealand, won the doubles title in Memphis, Tenn., with Sam Querrey, reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and the third round of both the US Open and the French Open, and was named to the U.S. Davis Cup team. He also won the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon, going 11 hours over three days to defeat Nicolas Mahut 70-68, in the fifth set. 2006 singles champion Mark Philippoussis peaked at No. 8 in the world in 1999 after reaching the final of the 1998 US Open and capturing two hard-court singles titles in 1999. After a series of injuries, Philippoussis made a comeback in 2006 by playing on the USTA Pro Circuit and also won his 11th career ATP World Tour title in Newport, R.I. 2002 singles champion Michael Chang is a former world No. 2 and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the US Open in 1987 and also captured his first USTA Pro Circuit Challenger that year in Las Vegas. In 1989, Chang became the youngest Roland Garros and Grand Slam champion (17 years, 3 months), and went on to win 34 ATP World Tour singles titles and reach the final of the 1996 US Open.

The tournament is accepting sponsorships and ball person volunteers. For more information contact Jeff Richards at (818) 222-2782. For a schedule of events and other details, check out the official website, calabasaschallenger.com.

Prize Money/Points – $50,000 Men

SINGLES: Prize Money Points

Winner $7,200 80

Runner-up $4,240 48

Semifinalist $2,510 29

Quarterfinalist $1,460 15

Round of 16 $860 7

Round of 32 $520 —

DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team)

Winner $3,100

Runner-up $1,800

Semifinalist $1,080

Quarterfinalist $640

Round of 16 $360

Community Events

Sunday, October 17 – Pro-Am, 4-6:30 p.m.

BBQ Dinner, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, October 19 – USTA League Appreciation Night

6:00 – 10:00 PM

Friday, October 22 – Pro-Am Drill, 9-11 a.m.

Pro Exhibition, 6-7 p.m.

Saturday, October 23 – USTA Junior Team Tennis Kids’ Day, 2-3:30 p.m.

Calabasas Past Champions

Year	Singles Winner	Singles Runner-up
2009	Donald Young (USA)	Michael Russell (USA)
2008	Vince Spadea (USA)	Sam Warburg (USA)
2007	Robert Kendrick (USA)	Donald Young (USA)
2006	Mark Philippoussis (AUS)	Amer Delic (USA)
2005	Brian Vahaly (USA)	Denis Gremelmayr (GER)
2004	Ivo Karlovic (CRO)	Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA)
2003	Jerome Golmard (FRA)	Lars Burgsmuller (GER)
2002	Michael Chang (USA)	Cecil Mamiit (PHI)
2001	Andre Sa (BRA)	Michael Russell (USA)

Year	Doubles Champions
2009	Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) – Simon Stadler (GER)
2008	Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) – Dusan Vemic (SRB)
2007	John Isner (USA) – Brian Wilson (USA)
2006	Robert Kendrick (USA) – Cecil Mamiit (PHI)
2005	Amer Delic (USA) – Bobby Reynolds (USA)
2004	Graydon Oliver (USA) – Travis Parrott (USA)
2003	Justin Gimelstob (USA) – Scott Humphries (USA)
2002	Paul Rosner (RSA) – Glenn Weiner (USA)
2001	Ota Fukarek (CZE) – Ivo Heuberger (SUI)

USTA Pro Circuit

With 94 tournaments throughout the country and prize money ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. Last year, more than 1,000 men and women from more than 70 countries competed on the USTA Pro Circuit for approximately $3.2 million in prize money and valuable ATP and WTA Tour ranking points. Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Lindsay Davenport, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jelena Jankovic are among the top stars who began their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit. The USTA Pro Circuit is world-class tennis administered on the local level and played on local tennis courts as part of the fabric of communities nationwide — an opportunity for current and new fans to experience the excitement and intensity of the professional game in their neighborhood.

Topics: Appreciation Night, Breakout Season, Calabasas Challenger, Community Tennis Association, Defending Champion, Donald Young, Grand Slam Events, Ivan Ljubicic, John Isner, Kevin Kim, Mardy Fish, Playoff Victory, Robert Kendrick, Ryan Harrison, Sam Querrey, Sponsor Party, Tennis Academy, Tour Result, Tournament Referee, Usta Tennis